CLEMSON – The No. 9-ranked Clemson baseball team notched a sixth win in a row by controlling the action at Doug Kingsmore Stadium Wednesday over Kansas State, 8-3.
Coming off of clinching the rivalry series with South Carolina over the weekend, Clemson (10-1) struck early with Nolan Nawrocki hitting a 3-run homer deep to left field in the second inning.
In the third frame, Will Taylor tacked on another run with a standup triple off the right field wall, and he scored shortly after on a wild pitch. Alden Mathes completed a 5-0 scoring start with a solo homer rifled to right field.
Returning to the pitching rotation for the first time since giving up five runs on eight hits versus Kennesaw State, Billy Barlow (2-1) worked his way through some trouble.
After giving up an RBI double in the fifth, Barlow stranded two more of the seven total left on base against him with his fifth strikeout of the game. He scattered six hits with two walks over the outing.
Clemson tagged five earned runs on Kansas State’s Andrew Evans (1-1), who gave up four hits and a walk over three innings.
Clemson side-arming right-hander Lucas Mahlstedt worked in and out of trouble in the sixth frame, giving up two hits and a run but stranding a Wildcats runner. Mahlstedt settled down to go three strong innings, allowing two hits total with three strikeouts.
In the bottom half of the inning, Kansas State’s Brendan Jones robbed a deep shot to the center field wall off of Cam Cannarella’s bat to leave a Tiger aboard, but Clemson wasn’t done scoring.
The Tigers loaded up the bags with no one out in the eighth, adding three insurance runs on two hits, two walks and an error.
Justin LeGuernic made things interesting in the ninth by loading up the bases with no outs, and he was pulled for righty reliever Rob Hughes. After Hughes registered a strikeout, the Wildcats only got one run back from the threat.
The Wildcats (7-5) dropped the second of the midweek road trip down South, after a 15-5 defeat at Tennessee on Tuesday.
The Tigers return to action at 4 p.m. on Friday, hosting